ok here the thing i am neww to all this i have a green iguana and i have a 55 gal. tank i was thinking on putting him in it but i dont know what all i am going to need if someone can help that cool p.s i am also looking for some good info on taking care of him
Ok, i don't have an iggy, don't uch about them honestly, but I do know a 55 gal will be too small before too long. It would have been better to do more research upfront. Try doing a google search on iguana care. Make sure your temps are right, lots of uvb, and good greens for him
Hi Theonezerocool- Yikes! You have a lot to learn in a very short amount of time. All of this would have been easier had you been able to research them first before you got the Ig. But, often times folks aren't able to or are simply not aware of how much care they need, or how critical the care is. First, check out the caresheet located on this site to get you going. Another good resource is: www.greenigsociety.org, review care info there. It is accurate and easy to navigate. You need to get the enclosure prepared properly and the Ig in it before things go south quickly. Most important things, UVB light and proper food. Without them the Igs health will deteriorate rapidly. Let us know how things are working out.
I thought I was investing wisely when I bought a three hundred and fifty gallon for my girl. (very pricey, and it still ended up being inadiquate.) We ended up having to dovote and section off a large part of our living room, and the whole connected bathroom just to her. (Not an easy or comfortable way to go in a shoebox sized one bedroom.) But it was the price I had to pay for taking on the HUGE responcibility of caring for an iguana. There are other things besides enclosure size to think about as well, like where to take him if he sick. (And how much are you able to spend if he is?) Or how much time are you able to spend just keeping up with the cleaning, the feeding, the socializing. And the worst one I've seen at least a hundred times, what if your iguana is just one of those who has an intolorable of humans kind of personality? I've seen it a bunch of times. Somebody sees someone walk by in a crowded public area, with this huge docile iguana sitting on their shoulder, and decide that it would be really cool to have one at home. So they buy a baby, and discover that they've got this writhing, biting, tailwhipping, hissing little critter that won't let them go near him, so they get rid of it. I have these great freinds who adopted this poor baby who had been passed around to 15 different homes! They have been patient, and tried very hard for ten years to adapt him to humans. But he simply does not like physical human contact. The only progress that they have made with him is that he doesn't run away when approached. But that progress alone has taken ten whole years. I think that it is such a sad misconception that people tend to make. Even some of the books on iguana care I've read seem to say that unsocial iguana are caused solely by bad care. But I think another factor that people need to consider is that animals have individual personatilitys. And I've also seen them have different moods too. I raise beardies now, and though the books insist that they "don't try to bite unless you hurt them" my usually sweet attention-craving little Fergus has snapped at me before (where he usually climbs on my hand as soon as its in,) to show me that he wants me to back off, and he's not in the mood to be held at that time. What I'm saying here, is that with iguanas, there is alot of these that people really need to start thinking about before they get them. Even if somebody gave him to you, it is important to reflect on if you can care for him properly. I got mine because I felt terrible that she was about to be put to sleep, and couldn't watch that happen. But after rehabiltating her, I should have realized (instead of being selfish because I would have missed her) that financially I had no business raising an iguana. But now (because I couldn't afford a $50,000 dollar surgury,- yes the bills can be that high) instead of missing her, but getting pictures and updates from another owner, I have to miss her because she's dead. And that is a thousand times more painful after having her for three years than giving her up would have been. I hope I didn't sound to preachy or harsh here, but I made a terrible mistake with my baby girl, and so I try to help other people to understand this commitment in ways that I know I didn't before it was to late for her. Good luck with your iguana, they are marvalous creatures!
I can offer another excellent web site for trusworthy information on iguanas and their care requirements, try www.anapsid.org
Here is one www.iguanaden.com it helped me on the claw trimming and enclosures! it gives you a wood framing plan to put together it also gives you a pipe framing plan! you wiil findit really usefull! I did. hope it works for u! rbs!